'Merlin's Cave'

20th April 1988

Nymphadora Tonks let out a commingled groan of apathy and boredom as she trailed along towards the rear of a group led by Professor Dolan – the latest in a long line of Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers to have held the post since she had started her magical education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry nearly five years earlier – as he guided them around the ruins of Tintagel Castle situated on the northern tip of the Cornish coast.

"Many muggles believe that this castle is in fact the birthplace of King Arthur," he was saying in a dull monotone that very nearly rivalled the narcolepsy-inducing drone favoured by their usual History of Magic teacher, Professor Binns. "Total nonsense of course," he added not bothering to keep his voice down as a group of muggle tourists hurried by. "Anyone who has studied the Magical History of Britain is aware that the character of Arthur was created by Merlin as a way of deflecting attention away from himself so he wouldn't be constantly harassed by muggles looking for magical solutions to their problems ... "

Quickly losing what little interested had been piqued at the mention of Merlin, Tonks easily tuned out Dolan's dry lecture and leant closer to her best friend, Charlie Weasley. "Had I known this trip was going to be so dull, I wouldn't have pestered mum so much to sign that bloody consent form," she whispered.

Charlie's freckled face split into a wide grin. "At least we're out of school," he whispered back, managing to suppress a chuckle at his best friend's obvious boredom.

Tonks pursed her lips and bobbed her head from side to side. There was that.

At the behest of the board of governors who had recently decreed that it was their wish that the school should offer O.W.L. students the chance to 'experience the history of their world first hand,' as their letter home to the parents had read, Professor Dumbledore had grudgingly authorised the first field trip in nearly two centuries.

Rumour had it that all trips had been suspended indefinitely after some sort of an incident during an one such excursion to Edinburgh in 1824 which resulted in a terrible fire that left half the city in ruins.

Given that Professor Binns had barely noticed his own death, the decision had been taken that someone with a more watchful eye should accompany the students, the task eventually falling to Tarak Dolan, the current incumbent of the Defence Against the Dark Arts position and a former Magical Law Enforcement Officer.

"What do you reckon the chances are that Old Binns hasn't even noticed we're gone?" she replied, morphing her features into a fair representation of the aged ghost's tortoise-like appearance.

Now a laugh did escape Charlie's lips; a deep rumble of a laugh that she had always so adored. "Stop it," he choked out, but it was too late ...

Turning on his heel to locate the source of the commotion, Professor Dolan's closely set eyes narrowed as his gaze settled on the two students at the very tail of the group. "Perhaps you have something to add, Mr Weasley?" he enquired with an unpleasant grin. "Or maybe you, Miss Tonks?"

Involuntarily, the two friends glanced towards one another, each wearing matching expressions of guilt before they both had the good sense to appear contrite and allow their gazes to drop to their shoes. "No professor," they chorused.

"Very well then," snapped Dolan. "But anymore foolishness and I shall return you both to Hogwarts before either of you can say boggart."

Fully aware that Professor Dolan's threat was not an idle one, for several minutes Tonks and Charlie trudged on in silence, the former attempting to catch the later's eye several times in an effort to convey her regret that she had gotten him into trouble (again).

However, either he did not want to meet her eye at that moment, or else was made oblivious to her efforts by the strong wind blowing across the rocky peninsular from the sea frequently whipping his long hair into his face.

At length, the professor brought the group to a halt encircling the ruined foundations of what Tonks presumed must once have been a tower of some sort - not that she could hear her teacher's lecture on the subject to confirm her theory one way or the other. Truly exposed the headland as they now were, the wind had become so powerful that the professor's words were carried away and out to sea long before they reached her ears.

It was at that moment that Charlie's head snapped up: he had obviously heard something she hadn't.

"Sorry sir,' he said, his blue eyes dancing with delight in a manner that made Nymphadora's stomach perform a pathetic sort of half flip. "Did you say dragons?"

"Interested in what I have to say now, are we?" came Dolan's cool response and Tonks feared that he was about to make an example out of her best friend in retaliation for their earlier behaviour.

It was a fear that was proven mercifully unfounded.

"Yes, Mr Weasley," he continued smoothly, slicing his wand through the air to silence the howl of the wind. "You did indeed hear me correctly. This tower was destroyed by dragons.

"These stones," he waved an arm towards the pile of time-worn rubble, "are all that remain of a great tower that Vortigern, one of the earliest muggle Kings of Britain, was trying to erect some fifteen hundred years ago.

"You see, Vortigern had tried many times, but the before the tower could be completed, the ground would quake and the tower would collapse. His wise men told him that the only solution was to sprinkle the foundation with the blood of a child born without a father; only then would the ground remain still enough for the tower to be completed.

"Merlin, rumoured to be such a child, was therefore brought before him," Dolan continued, apparently quite enjoying the undivided attention he now received in response to his tale. "Now, why a wizard of Merlin's prowess did not merely apparate away from his captors, history does not record, however, we do know that Merlin instead chose to reveal the true cause of the tower's collapse to them: below the castle lay a cavern which housed two dragons, their violent battles continually rocking the land and thus destroying the tower before it could ever be completed - the locals still call it Merlin's cave to this day."

"And do you think there are still any dragons here now, sir?" asked Charlie, a familiar look of longing in his eyes: he had been fascinated with dragons for as long as Tonks had known him.

"Don't be foolish, boy," snapped Dolan, his features quite suddenly morphing back into the look of disdain he usually reserved for students. "Even a creature as long-lived as a dragon would have turned to dust centuries ago. Besides, the Ministry has classified all dragons as extremely dangerous – there isn't a beast alive today that the Ministry doesn't know the exact location of at all times."

Whilst clearly a knowledgable man, Dolan's obvious dislike of children made him ill-suited to a position instructing them, and as such he had quickly become one of most hated figures at the school – perhaps only beaten into second place by the vindictive head of Slytherin House, Professor Snape.

Hardly a night went by in which Tonks did not wish that the curse that was rumoured to surround the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts would strike again – it was often the only thought that got her through his lesson – and it was that thought again that allowed her to stay in control of her temper as Dolan's stinging remark hit home and washed the enthusiasm that had been etched onto her best friend's features away in an instant: she had learnt through bitter experience that allowing her metamorphic abilities to manifest themselves in Professor Dolan's class, even unintentionally, only served to antagonise the man.

"Hey," she whispered under her breath once they had resumed walking towards the next item of interest on their tour. "Do you fancy sneaking back in here tonight? See if we can't find those dragon caves … "

Charlie's face lit up. "Do you mean it?" came his eager reply.

In truth, Tonks didn't much fancy running into a dragon in the dead of night – in fact, as much as she hated Dolan, she believed that he was right about at least one thing: there was no way any being made of flesh and bone, no matter how powerful, could have survived for more than a millennia.

Nevertheless, knowing that only the prospect of seeing a dragon in the flesh would be enough to persuade the occasionally uptight Charlie Weasley to deliberately break the rules, Tonks offered her best friend a single shy nod by way of response. The opportunity to spend some time alone with the boy who had befriended her in their very first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson nearly five years ago would offer her the perfect moment to admit something that she had only become aware of in the last few months; an opportunity to find out if he felt the same way about her as she now realised she felt about him.

The sun had long since set over the rocky bay when Charlie and Tonks emerged from the rooms the school had procured for them at the town's only hotel. Both wore their school robes over their muggle clothing, and, in an effort to further disappear into the night, Tonks had even gone so far as to alter her hair colour to an inky black, indistinguishable from the dark landscape which surrounded them.

Fortune smiled on them: no one saw them as they hurried along the headland and the clouds (which until that moment had been streaking their way across the full moon and camouflaging their flight) parted at the opportune moment and lit their way down the rough steps, hewn directly into the rock.

Hand stretched out behind him, Charlie led Tonks down the winding stone staircase in silence, their descent abruptly halted when the pathway simply disappeared several steps shy of the beach.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as Tonks, unsighted in the dark, bumped into his back and set him swaying unsteadily on the final step which still stood a good ten feet off the ground. Only a combination of years of quidditch honed reflexes, coupled with Tonks making an instinctive grab for his waist, saving him from toppling over the edge.

"Where are the steps?" squeaked Tonks feeling less sure about her cunning plan by the second.

"Washed away, I guess," offered Charlie with a laconic shrug. "I'm going to have to jump," he announced a moment later, and before Tonks could even so much as part her lips to protest he launched himself into the air and landed with a wet squelch on the waterlogged beach below.

"Now you," he shouted as he righted himself and held his arms at the ready to arrest her momentum.

Having never had much of a head for heights, her mouth suddenly felt very dry as she peered over the sheer edge of the cliff. "I'm not sure this is a good - "

Whatever else she intended to say was swallowed up by her yelp of fright as she lost her footing on the slimy rock and tumbled over the edge.

Landing on Charlie with far more force than she had intended, the impact of her fall sent them them both sprawling to the ground where they landed in a heap, his face mere inches from hers.

She blinked stupidly as she assimilated the compromising nature of their positions, her cheeks immediately burning crimson as she recognised exactly where her hips had landed. "I – I – I'm so sorry, Charlie," she stammered, pushing herself to her feet and making a show of dusting the sand from her clothes just so that she would have something to do with her hands that she had suddenly become very conscious of: How have I never noticed how stupid my arms look just hanging at my sides?

"Don't mention it," winced Charlie as he too righted himself. "What are friends for?"

Charlie's words trailed away, and in a manner that Tonks could never recall experiencing around her best friend, time seemed to stretch awkwardly.

"Is - is that it, do you think?" she said at length, clearing her throat in a way she feared was obviously faked. What's wrong with me?!

"Must be," replied Charlie, his gaze shifting around in a very uncharacteristic manner. "Shall we?" he added gesturing towards the caverns vaguely circular entrance.

Stealthily, the two friends moved along the beach, their trainers making barely a sound on the compacted sand. Simultaneously, they lit their wand having moved beneath the canopy of rock and into the pitch blackness of the cave.

"I guess Dolan was right," said Tonks, her voice sounding high pitched and nervous to her own ears. "Perhaps we should be going - "

But Charlie obviously wasn't listening to her. "Hey! What's this?" he wondered aloud, moving his wand light to and fro over a particular patch of sand.

"It's just a water channel," suggested Tonks, directing her own wand light towards the groove worn into the caverns soft floor.

"No, look," declared Charlie, his voice carrying with it an unmistakable hint of excitement. "The groove goes right up against this wall and then stops."

Tonks felt her eyebrows reach for the ceiling of rock high overhead. "There's nothing unusual about an underground stream."

"But that's just it," continued Charlie emphatically, "there's no evidence of water action like there was at the bottom of the steps. This wasn't caused by any tidal stream. This is the mark left by a dragon's tail dragging along the ground – I know, I've seen pictures," he added.

"So what? The dragon just disappeared into a solid wall?" Her attempt at nonchalance sounded forced even to her own ears: she was beginning to worry that there really was something that still called Merlin's Cave home.

"Maybe it's not a wall at all," postulated Charlie, oblivious to Tonks' discomfort. "It could be an illusion left behind by Merlin himself, or a maybe a distraction charm of some sort, or a - "

Charlie's excited ramble was cut off by a horrific sound that started out low, like the howl of the wind that sill rushed past the mouth of the cave and quickly rose to a deafening roar.

Dual beams of light swung in the direction of the terrifying noise as Tonks and Charlie swung their wands towards the source, their luminescent beams falling on the unmistakable form of an ancient, but nevertheless deadly dragon. The passage of time had turned many of its green scales slate grey and its eyes were a milky white, but blind though it was, the scent of two tasty morsels who had so willingly stumbled into its lair had drawn it closer to the surface than it had been in a great many years and it sniffed at the air hungrily.

Despite herself a squeak of fear slipped past Tonks' lips. "Charlie?" she hissed, wishing she had paid more attention during Care of Magical Creatures. "What should we do?"

Having studied the species extensively, Charlie had no such doubts about their next course of action. "RUN!" he bellowed and grabbed her by the hand just it time to pull her out of the way as the dragon belched a surprisingly well aimed fireball in their general direction.

Even without looking behind, Tonks could sense that the dragon was in pursuit; the enormous creature's thunderous footfalls shook the cave so violently that she had no trouble believing Dolan's story about the tower from earlier that day.

"GET DOWN!" yelled Charlie and he threw them both to the ground behind a large boulder which instantly flared white hot, flames licking around its edges, as the dragon continued to use its remaining senses to excellent effect.

Panting hard, Tonks assessed their options and found them to be worryingly few. They couldn't fight - she knew enough of dragons to be certain that even if they were both fully qualified they didn't stand a chance. They couldn't stay where they were - even blinded by cataracts the winged monster was still a formidable hunter. Their only option was to make a dash for the caves only opening, fifty meters directly ahead of them: almost certainly a suicide run given how quickly the dragon had proven it could locate them utilising only it's remaining senses.

This was it; they were going to die down here, and she was never going to get to tell him how she felt.

Unless ...

Words were a luxury she didn't have time for; summoning every ounce of her courage, Tonks turned to face Charlie, his face red from exertion, and quickly closed the distance between them. She kept her eyes open so that she could have her answer one way or the other, her heart sinking like a stone as Charlie's eyes widened in shock. He doesn't feel the same. But almost before that nascent thought could fully coalesce within her mind, her heart reversed course and settled somewhere near her throat as Charlie's eyes slid shut and he reciprocated in kind.

Their moment was ruined as the dragon roared with frustration at being unable to locate its quarry.

Not wishing to give away their precise location by vocalising her desire to make a run for it, Tonks made sure Charlie followed her eye line towards the cave's jagged opening, understanding blossoming in his pale blue eyes.

She held up the fingers of one hand to signify a countdown and coiled the muscles of her legs ready to run harder than at any point in her life as she lowered each one in turn:

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

"STUPEFY!"

A new voice rang out within the confines of the cave and both of the trapped teenager's gazes snapped up to find the voice of their would-be saviour; a voice that managed to drown out the roar of the dragon as it recoiled under the onslaught of his powerful stunner.

Backlit against the caves entrance stood the imposing and unmistakable figure of Albus Dumbledore, his long beard whipping about his shoulders in the strong wind.

"Both of you would be wise to get behind me." His voice was calm, conversational even, but his eyes blazed with commingled fury and concern. "Quickly please," he added when neither made to move.

Not needing to be told twice, Tonks and Charlie sprinted towards safety, the headmaster laying down cover fire over their heads to keep the incensed dragon, which reared up onto its hind legs, at bay.

"How did you - " Tonks started to ask, but the headmaster cut across her.

"As fascinating as I'm sure you would find my answer, Miss Tonks, I fear there is little time for explanation. Please, take this," he added, pulling out a dog's chew toy from within the folds of his robes whereupon he extended it so that both Charlie and Tonks could grasp one end each as he intoned a single word: "Portus."

"Suffice it to say," he continued apparently choosing to ignore his own counsel, "I believe we once again find ourselves requiring a new Defence Against the Darks Arts teacher. Mr Dolan has proven himself sadly lacking in his duty to account for the whereabouts of the students in his care."

With that, he tapped the dog toy once more and Tonks immediately felt a familiar jerk behind her navel and when she was released she found herself standing before an door who's threshold she had crossed on more occasions than she cared to remember - Professor Sprout's.

Less than a minute later, Dumbledore arrived looking none the worse for wear. He did at least inform them that the dragon had been incapacitated and would be transferred to a sanctuary before he ushered them towards their separate heads of house to receive their punishments.

An hour later, an exasperated Pomona Sprout had dismissed Nymphadora from her sanctum and Tonks had immediately made her way to the deputy headmistress's office where she now waited for her best friend – boyfriend? – to emerge.

Finally, with her eyes feeling like they were being weighed down by tiny parcels of lead and the sky beyond the window she sat opposite just beginning to bruise towards morning, Tonks heard the handle to Professor McGonagall's office twist, and she looked up just in time to see a shame-faced Charlie Weasley emerge into the deserted corridor.

"Well?" prompted Tonks, the muscles of her back protesting vociferously as she pushed to her feet after a long period of inactivity.

"Detention for a month," he said sliding his hand into hers as they picked a direction at random and began to walk. "I'm suspended from the last quidditch game of the season, and McGonagall says she'll be writing to my parents first thing in the morning."

"So not too bad then?" grinned Tonks and she gave him playful shove to his ribs as she thought of her own seamlessly never ending list of punishments for he most recent indiscretion. However, and to her eternal surprise, Charlie's mouth did not quirk into a matching grin, his features instead taking on a more thoughtful countenance.

"Yeah," he said after a beat his gaze slipping towards their conjoined hands. "Not too bad at all."

Now he did smile and it was smile that caused Nymphadora's hair to flush red from its roots to its very tips.

Fin